Hinge structure for toilet

ABSTRACT

A toilet has a toilet bowl and a toilet seat. A hinge structure includes a securing element and an installer. The securing element is fixed to the toilet bowl, and has a head and a screw rod extending from the head. The installer is connected to the toilet seat. The installer has a base with an opening. The opening has a first through hole and a second through hole interconnected with each other. The size of the first through hole is larger than the perimeter size of the head. The size of the second through hole is smaller than the perimeter size of the head. The base first encircles the head with the first through hole. Then, after the base is moved, the screw rod embeds in and fixes to the second through hole.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to hinge structures. More particularly, the present invention relates to hinge structures for toilets.

2. Related Art

Traditionally, toilet seat hinges are secured directly onto toilet bowls through screws. To ensure that a toilet seat is fixed firmly, one must use some special tools to secure the screws tightly. As a result, one must also use the special tools to loose the screws in order to detach the toilet seat. Because few people will detach the toilet seat when they are cleaning a toilet, the toilet seat will hinder some areas of the toilet from being cleaned. Furthermore, because there are many toilet seats with different designs and different patterns available in the market, many consumers will purchase new toilet seats for installation. However, in doing so, these consumers will encounter difficulties because the conventional design of toilet seat hinges does not facilitate convenient assembly/disassembly of the toilet seats.

As a result, several merchants have proposed some toilet seat hinge structures that are easy to assemble/disassemble. For example, FIG. 1 shows a first hinge structure that has a lower base body 1 a and an upper base body 2 a. A screw 3 a fastens the lower base body 1 a onto a toilet bowl. The upper base body 2 a and the toilet seat are pivoted together. Because the lower base body 1 a and the upper base body 2 a have corresponding tenon-and-mortise elements 4 a for engagement, it might be easier to assemble/disassemble the toilet seat. However, the use of tenon-and-mortise elements 4 a frequently results in a dilemma. Namely, if the tenon-and-mortise elements 4 a allow the toilet seat to be tightly secured, detachment will be difficult because it will be hard to disassemble the tenon-and-mortise elements 4 a. On the other hand, if the goal is to facilitate easy detachment, the tenon-and-mortise elements A4 may be incapable of tightly securing the toilet seat.

FIG. 2 shows a second hinge structure that achieves the goal of easy detachment by having a base body 1 b and a base lid 2 b to operate in coordination with each other and to be fixed onto a toilet bowl via a securing element 3 b. However, this base lid 2 b has a lift-upward design and might disengage from the base body 1 b more easily. The tenon-and-mortise part 4 b is used to prevent this problem. However, because the hinge structure design should be minimized and the tenon-and-mortise part 4 b can only make up a small portion of the whole hinge structure, the base lid 2 b still can not be secured to the toilet tightly.

FIG. 3 shows a third hinge structure that uses an auxiliary base 1 c and a fixing element 2 c, both of which are to be fixed to a toilet bowl. A pivoting base 3 c connected to the toilet seat is to engage with the corresponding auxiliary base 1 c and to be positioned accordingly. The pivoting base 3 c and a revolving lid 4 c allow the pivoting base 3 c to be secured corresponding to the auxiliary base 1 c or to be detached. This hinge structure design not only facilitates easy assembly/disassembly but also can achieve better fixation. However, the design has complicated components that will result in not only more assembly steps but also higher costs.

BRIEF SUMMARY

An objective of the present invention is to provide a hinge structure for a toilet. Because a base of the hinge structure can be assembled or disassembled when an opening has movement relative to a securing element, the present invention allows a toilet seat to be assembled to or disassembled from a toilet easily and quickly.

According to the hinge structure for the toilet of the present invention, the toilet has a toilet bowl and a toilet seat. The hinge structure includes a securing element and an installer. The securing element is fixed to the toilet bowl, and has a head and a screw rod extending from the head. The installer is connected to the toilet seat. The installer has a base with an opening. The opening has a first through hole and a second through hole interconnected with each other. The size of the first through hole is larger than the perimeter size of the head. The size of the second through hole is smaller than the perimeter size of the head. The base first encircles the head with the first through hole. Then, after the base is moved, the screw rod embeds in and fixes to the second through hole.

Because the hinge structure only has some simple components, such as the base and a slide lid of the installer, the present invention not only facilitates easy assembly but also allows for mass production. Furthermore, a protruding ring and the head form an infixing part that has an I-shape; the size of the second through hole is smaller than the perimeter size of the head and is larger than the perimeter size of the infixing part. As a result, the infixing part can engage with the head. Furthermore, the engagement between a stop block and the head enables the stop block to fix the second through hole to the position of the securing element. In addition, the stop block, a slide rail, and the infixing part have a T-shape. This shape enables the stop block to engage with the slide rail to prevent the slide lid from leaving the base vertically. Furthermore, the infixing part enhances the engagement between the stop block and the head. In addition, because a tenon and a mortise are to be adjusted in coordination with each other, the stop block will suffer from friction when it slides by the slide rail horizontally. Only when an external force is applied will the position of the second through hole (as fixed by the stop block) relative to the securing element be moved/adjusted. All these features ensure that the second through hole will tightly engage with the securing element at the right position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of the various embodiments disclosed herein will be better understood with respect to the following description and drawings, in which like numbers refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective exploded diagram of a first conventional hinge structure;

FIG. 2 shows a perspective exploded diagram of a second conventional hinge structure;

FIG. 3 shows a perspective exploded diagram of a third conventional hinge structure;

FIG. 4 shows a perspective exploded diagram of a hinge structure embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 shows a perspective illustration diagram of the securing element and the fixing element of the hinge structure embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 shows a perspective illustration diagram of the securing element and the base of the hinge structure embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 shows a combination-illustration diagram of the securing element and the base of the hinge structure embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 shows a cross-section illustration diagram of the securing element and the base of the hinge structure embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 shows another cross-section illustration diagram of the securing element and the base of the hinge structure embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 shows a perspective illustration diagram of the base and the slide lid of the hinge structure embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 shows a combination-illustration diagram of the base and the slide lid of the hinge structure embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a partially-enlarged diagram of the area ‘A’ shown in FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 shows a combination-illustration diagram of the hinge structure embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 shows a cross-section illustration diagram of the hinge structure embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 15 shows a perspective combination diagram of the hinge structure embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention provides a hinge structure 200 for a toilet 100. The toilet 100 has a toilet bowl 101, a toilet seat 102, and two position holes 103. The toilet seat 102 has a lid part 104 and a seat part 105. As shown in FIG. 4, the hinge structure 200 includes a securing element 1 and an installer 2.

The securing element 1 has a head 11 and a screw rod 12 extending from the head 11. The head 11 is in the shape of a cylinder/column. The screw rod 12 has a protruding ring 121. The protruding ring 121 and the head 11 form an infixing part 122 with an I-shape. Please note that this specific shape of the infixing part 122 is not a necessary limitation of the present invention. The perimeter size of the protruding ring 121 is smaller than the perimeter size of the head 11. On a surface away from the protruding ring 121 and the infixing part 122, the screw rod 12 has an outer thread 123.

The installer 2 has a base 21 and a slide lid 22 corresponding to the base 21. The base 21 has an opening 211 in a denting part 212. Further, the base 21 has a pivoting lug 213. In addition, on each of the two lateral sides of the denting part 212, the base 21 has a slide rail 214. The opening 211 has a first through hole 2111 and a second through hole 2112 interconnected with each other. The size of the first through hole 2111 is larger than the perimeter size of the head 11; the size of the second through hole 2112 is smaller than the perimeter size of the head 11 and is larger than the perimeter size of the infixing part 122. Finally, the slide lid 22 has two stop blocks 221 protruding towards the direction of the base 21.

The present invention further provides a fixing element 3, which is to encircle the bottom of the securing element 1. The fixing element 3 has an inner thread 31, which is designed corresponding to the outer thread 123, so that the fixing element 3 can fix the securing element 1.

Please see FIG. 5 to FIG. 13 for the steps of assembling the hinge structure 200 of the embodiment. FIG. 5 shows the first step, in which the securing elements 1 are placed through the two positioning holes 103 of the toilet bowl 101 and the fixing elements 3 fix the screw rods 12 in the positioning holes 103. As a result, the securing elements 1 are secured on the toilet bowl 101 and the heads 11 are exposed on the toilet 100.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 show the second step. This embodiment of the present invention further includes two fixing lugs 4. A fixing lug 4 is connected to the lid part 104; another fixing lug 4 is connected to the seat part 105. The two fixing lugs 4 are connected to and pivot on the pivoting lug 213. The base 21, which is to interconnect the toilet bowl 101 and the toilet seat 102, encircle the securing element 1 (more specifically, the head 11) with the first through hole 2111.

FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 shows the third step. By moving the base 21, the second through hole 2112 will encircle the head 11. Because the size of the second through hole 2112 is smaller than the perimeter size of the head 11 and is larger than the perimeter size of the infixing part 122, the second through hole 2112 will hold the head 11 so that the base 21 is secured on the toilet 100 through the head 11.

FIG. 10 to FIG. 13 shows the fourth step. The installer 2 of this embodiment further has a slide lid 22, which has a stop block 221 corresponding to the slide rail 214 and protruding towards the base 21. The slide lid 22 then engages with the base 21 horizontally; the head 11 and the stop block 221 engage with each other. As a result, the stop block 221 will fix the second through hole 2112 to the securing element 1, so that the base 21 can be fixed by the securing element 1 on the toilet 100. In addition, the stop block 221 can form an L-shape together with the slide rail 214 or a T-shape together with the slide rail 214 and the infixing part 122. The L-shape, which is formed partly by the stop block 221, is to engage with the slide rail 214 to prevent the slide lid 22 from leaving the base 21 vertically. The T-shape, which is formed partly by the stop block 221, is not only to engage with the slide rail 214 and prevent the slide rail 214 from leaving the base 21, but also to engage with the head 11 to enhance the tightness of the connection between the second through hole 2112 and the securing element 1.

FIG. 12 shows a partially enlarged view of the stop block 221 and the slide rail 214. The stop block 221 has a tenon 2211 protruding towards the slide rail 214. The slide rail 214 has a mortise 2141 corresponding to the tenon 2211. Because the tenon 2211 and the mortise 2141 work in concert with each other, the stop block 221 will suffer from friction when it slide along the slide rail 214. A user must apply some external force to overcome the friction, e.g. by using a hand to pull the slide lid 22. When no external force is applied, the stop block 221 will engage with the slide rail 214 so that the slide lid 22 will be fixed to the base 21. The mortise 2141 has an end surface 2142 that forms an inclined plane 2143. Further, the mortise 2141 has a denting segment 2144 and a protruding part 2145 protruding from the joint of the inclined plane 2143 and the denting segment 2144. The inclined plane 2143 allows the tenon 2211 to slide by the protruding part 2145. The denting segment 2144 provides the tenon 2211 with friction, so that the tenon 2211 can move by the denting segment 2144 only if some external force is applied to the tenon 2211. The protruding part 2145 is to engage with the stop block 221 so that the stop block 221 can be positioned on the slide rail 212. As a result, as long as the slide lid 22 receives no external force, the slide lid 22 will not leave the base 21 horizontally. This feature further enhances the tightness of the slide lid 22 on the base 21.

As explained above, the embodiment of the present invention provides a hinge structure 200 that is easy to assemble/disassemble. The opening 211 has a first through hole 2111 and a second through hole 2112 interconnected with each other. The size of the first through hole 2111 is larger than the perimeter size of the head 11; the size of the second through hole 2112 is smaller than the perimeter size of the head 11 and is larger than the perimeter size of the infixing part 122. As a result, the first through hole 2111 can either encircle the securing element 1 from the head 11 or leave from the securing element 1. Through the infixing part 122, the second through hole 2112 can engage with the head 11 and fix the base 21 to the position of the securing element 1. Thus, when the opening 211 has movement relative to the securing element 1, the base can be either disassembled from the first through hole 2111 or assembled with the second through hole 2112. Furthermore, because the embodiment only has some simple components, such as the base 21 and the slide lid 22 of the installer 2, the embodiment not only facilitates easy assembly but also allows for mass production.

FIG. 13 to FIG. 15 shows the hinge structure 200 of the embodiment mounted on the toilet bowl 101. Due to the feature that the size of the second through hole 2112 is smaller than the perimeter size of the head 11 and is larger than the perimeter size of the infixing part 122, the base 21 can engage with the head 11. The stop block 221 engages with the head 11 through the infixing part 122, so that the stop block 221 fixes the second through hole 2112 on the position of the securing element 1. The base 21 engages with the infixing part 122 and is tightly secured on the toilet 100. Furthermore, the stop block 221, the slide rail 214, and the infixing part 122 form a T-shape. The T-shape allows the stop block 221 to engage with the slide rail 214 to prevent the slide lid 22 from leaving the base 21 in the vertical direction. The engagement between the stop block 221 and the head 11 further secures the second through hole 2112 to the securing element 1. Because the tenon 2211 and the mortise 2141 are to be adjusted in coordination with each other, the stop block 221 will suffer from friction when it slides on the slide rail 214 horizontally. The friction allows the stop block 221 to fix the second through hole 2112 to the position of the securing element 1, and allows the second through hole 2112 to move only if some external force is applied. All these features ensure that the hinge structure 200 of this embodiment can be tightly fixed on the toilet 100.

The above description is given by way of example, and not limitation. Given the above disclosure, one skilled in the art could devise variations that are within the scope and spirit of the invention disclosed herein, including configurations ways of the recessed portions and materials and/or designs of the attaching structures. Further, the various features of the embodiments disclosed herein can be used alone, or in varying combinations with each other and are not intended to be limited to the specific combination described herein. Thus, the scope of the claims is not to be limited by the illustrated embodiments. 

1. A hinge structure for a toilet, the toilet having a toilet bowl and a toilet seat, said hinge structure comprising: a securing element fixed to the toilet bowl, said securing element having a head and a screw rod extending from said head; and an installer connected to the toilet seat, said installer having a base with an opening, said opening having a first through hole and a second through hole interconnected with each other, the size of said first through hole being larger than the perimeter size of said head, the size of said second through hole being smaller than the perimeter size of said head; wherein said base first encircles said head with said first through hole, then, after said base is moved, said screw rod embeds in and fixes to said second through hole.
 2. The structure of claim 1, further comprising a fixing element, said fixing element having an inner thread, said screw rod having an outer thread corresponding to said inner thread, said fixing element being for encircling said securing element and fixing said securing element to the toilet bowl.
 3. The structure of claim 1, further comprising two fixing lugs, said base having a pivoting lug, said fixing lugs being connected to the toilet seat and said pivoting lug and pivoting on said pivoting lug.
 4. The structure of claim 3, wherein said installer further has a slide lid corresponding to said base, and when said slide lid engages with said base, said slide lid and said securing element also engages with each other.
 5. The structure of claim 4, wherein said base has a denting part and a slide rail on the lateral side of said denting part, said slide lid has a stop block protruding towards said base, and said stop block is to move corresponding to said slide rail for engagement.
 6. The structure of claim 5, wherein said stop block has a tenon, said slide rail has a mortise corresponding to said tenon, and said tenon and said mortise are to be adjusted in coordination with each other.
 7. The structure of claim 6, wherein said mortise comprises an inclined plane formed on an end plane of said mortise, a denting segment, and a protruding part protruding from the junction of said inclined plane and said denting segment, said inclined plane allows said tenon to slide by said protruding part, said denting segment allows adjustment movement of said tenon in coordination, and said protruding part allows said stop block to be positioned at said slide rail.
 8. The structure of claim 5, where said denting part has said opening, via said first through hole said base encircles said securing element at said second through hole, and said stop block and said head engages with each other, so that said second through hole is positioned at said securing element.
 9. The structure of claim 8, wherein said screw rod has a protruding ring, the perimeter size of said protruding ring is smaller than the perimeter size of said head, said protruding ring and said head form an infixing part, the size of said second through hole is smaller than the perimeter size of said head and is larger than the perimeter size of said infixing part, so as to allow said head to engage with said second through hole with said infixing part.
 10. The structure of claim 9, wherein said stop block and said slide rail form an L-shape.
 11. The structure of claim 9, wherein said stop block, said slide rail, and said infixing part form a T-shape. 